


After the Boxing Ring

by rubberglue



Series: Boxing [4]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-21
Updated: 2012-08-21
Packaged: 2017-11-12 14:01:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/491859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubberglue/pseuds/rubberglue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur wants more than Gwen can give. And Lance returns from France.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Boxing Ring

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [robinmarian](http://robinmarian.livejournal.com). This marks the end of the Boxing series.

A kiss was pressed onto her neck, then her shoulder. She murmured her pleasure but kept her eyes closed. As expected, one arm slipped around her waist and tenderly moved up to up her breast, gently squeezing and caressing. Sighing, Gwen snugged deeper into the embrace. This was life, she thought.

"I would love to continue this but I'm afraid I've to be at work soon."

Finally she opened her eyes, twisting around so she faced Arthur. "What a pity. I was starting to feel so good too."

"Well, maybe if we showered together, we could save some time." Arthur rolled off the bed and tugged her out of it. "And we will save water as well."

"And we all know how important the environment is to you."

Arthur's reply was a deep kiss, followed by scooping her up and carrying her, not easy when she was giggling and squirming, into the shower.

+

"The launch of the new building is in a month." 

"I'm so proud of you," said Gwen as she untangled her hair. And she was. The building was Arthur's baby, a project he was determined to see through despite his father's disapproval and the board's disdain. Even the newspapers dubbed it his "vanity project" and no one took it seriously. After all, Arthur had the money to throw at a losing prospect. 

Smiling at her compliment, Arthur said, “Thank you. After all those years, I can’t believe it’s done. And to think that this could be the beginning of a new direction for the company.” Arthur tugged at his tie.

“Mmm, you certainly proved them wrong. You proved me wrong too - I used to think you were just coasting on your father’s success,” Gwen teased, as she took the tie from Arthur’s hands and tied it for him. Although her tone was teasing, it was true that when she first started dating Arthur, she did think he was little more than the idle, rich man the tabloids painted him. 

“Well, I’m glad you don’t think that anymore.” He captured her hands, stilling them before cupping her face. “Come to the launch with me.”

Shaking her head, Gwen tried to pull away from him. “Arthur -”

“Guinevere. We’ve been together for almost a year. I was hoping we could make things a bit more public.”

Fear gripped her and she moved away from Arthur when his hold loosened. She didn’t need to look at him to know the disappointment on his face. While, in the past year, she had shared most of Arthur’s private life, she had deliberately kept out of the more public side of his life. And to his credit, he never pushed.

“Let’s talk about it at dinner. I can’t be late today. Your place?”

Plastering a smile on her face, she nodded. Immediately, Arthur pulled her into a hug, whispering into her hair, “I love you ok?”

Then he was gone, leaving her alone in his huge apartment. 

+

Will be slightly late. Wait for me. A.

Gwen dropped her mobile onto the table and sighed. With the launch approaching, Arthur had been terribly busy the past few weeks and while she missed him, she also worried that he was pushing himself too much in his desire to prove his father wrong. She thought again about Arthur’s invitation to the launch. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go but the press would be there, speculating about her and her relationship with Arthur. As it was, as much as Arthur insisted he loved her, she was still wary about how permanent this would be and she wasn’t sure if she was willing to share the public side of Arthur’s life. If she didn’t, could their relationship work?

Yet, she loved him so much.

There was a knock on the door, startling Gwen out of her morose thoughts. Merlin. It was too early for Arthur.

“I thought you had a date!” Gwen tried to sound upbeat, despite her brooding, not wanting Merlin to worry about her. “Did you forget the keys - oh.”

“Gwen.” 

“You’re not Merlin.” 

“No. Hi Gwen.”

It was probably the height of rudeness but she slammed the door shut. Why the hell was Lance standing in her doorway after carelessly dumping her over a year ago?

He knocked again, calling her name. Maybe if she ignored him, he would go away. But he was persistent and after a few minutes, Gwen started to worry that his knocking would disturb her neighbours. 

With great reluctance, she opened the door and gestured for Lance to enter. 

“Why are you here?” She sounded petulant but she didn’t care. All the anger and hurt she thought she had managed to get over bubbled up in her. Part of her wanted to hit him for all the pain he caused, but she kept her hands clenched at her side. 

“I finished my contract with Hudson Studios and, well, I missed you.”

“That’s too bad. I don’t miss you. You should go.”

Lance took a step towards her, his eyes boring into hers, eyes she once thought were the most beautiful she’d ever seen. “I know you’re angry with me and you have every right to be -”

“Why is your door open Gwen?”

Jumping away from Lance, Gwen looked to her door and saw a slightly confused Arthur frowning at her. “I didn’t realise we were having company. Hello, I’m Arthur.” Although Gwen could see the wariness in Arthur’s eyes, his tone was even and he smiled warmly at Lance. Ever the consummate host. 

Lance shook Arthur’s outstretched hand. “I’m Lance. An old friend of Gwen’s.” Gwen glared at Lance when he said that. 

“Are you joining us for dinner?” Arthur shrugged off his jacket and casually hung it at the back of Gwen’s door. “I don’t believe Gwen has mentioned you before. Have you?”

“That’s probably because the last time we spoke, we had quite the quarrel. I came by hoping to make amends. I can see this is not the best time. I’ll talk to you again Gwen. And nice meeting you Arthur.” Lance nodded politely then left. 

Arthur said nothing. Instead, he went over to her fridge and peered inside. “Did Merlin cook or are we having takeout?” 

“Arthur. Let me explain.”

Closing the fridge, he leaned against it and watched her as she walked towards him. “Let me guess. Ex-boyfriend, decides he wants you back?”

“In not so many words, yes. But I -”

“Shh.” Arthur slipped his arms around her. “Just tell me, do you want him back?”

“No.”

“Well then, then it’s all good. I was hoping your exes wouldn’t be so good-looking though.”

Laughing, she reached up to kiss him. “Lance is good-looking isn’t he? He’s also one of those creative types -”

Arthur silenced her with a kiss, one he deepened the moment her lips parted. “I’ll let you know that I can be very creative too,” he said suggestively. “In fact, I’d show you but I’m quite hungry right now.”

“Oh fine. Merlin left us some food.”

+

After feeding Arthur and him showing her exactly how creative he could be in bed, they lay in her not-quite-so-comfortable bed.

“Have you thought about the launch?” His fingers played with her hair. When she said nothing, he continued. “Being in the public is part of who I am.”

“What are you saying?” Shifting, she sat up and looked at him. Dread filled her. Unbidden, the memory of Lance breaking up with her came rushing back together with all the pain that accompanied it. If Arthur was going to break up with her, she knew it would be so many times worse.

When he slipped an arm around her and tucked her close, she let herself relax a little. Surely, this wasn’t the actions of someone about to dump her. “I love you Gwen. I think you love me too, reluctant as you are to say it. I want us to work but because of who I am, who my father is, I am always going to be in the public. I guess, the question then is, do you want to be with me enough to bear with that?”

She wanted to say yes. She so desperately wanted to say yes. But her mouth opened and “I don’t know” slipped out instead. Arthur tensed next to her.

When he slipped out of her bed, she felt tears prickling her eyes. “Maybe you need to think about it. I should be getting home.”

“You could stay the night.” Gwen cursed how needy she sounded.

As if realising how upset she was, he leaned over and kissed her gently. “Hey, it’s a big decision. And I really have to get to work early tomorrow. We’ll work it out alright?” He squeezed her hand. “Stay in bed. You look all comfy. I’ll let myself out. I have a session with Percy at the gym tomorrow. See you then?”

She nodded.

+

“You are an amazing chef, Merlin.” Gwen muttered as she stuffed more of the chicken into her mouth. “How are things between you and Gwaine?”

“He’s a pain to cook for. All he wants is steak. Nothing fancy he says,” grumbled Merlin. 

“But you love him,” teased Gwen. “I can’t imagine why though.”

Merlin smiled. “Frankly, I don’t know sometimes. We seem to be happy so that’s good right?”

“And yet, he still can’t get you to exercise.”

“I told him he does enough exercise for the both of us. Here, try the duck. It’s a new recipe. You know, Arthur asked if I wanted to cater for the launch.”

All her good spirits disappeared when Merlin mentioned the launch. Aside from that conversation in bed, she and Arthur never brought up the launch again but she knew he expected an answer. “Are you?”

“Don’t be silly. Merlin’s Magic is way too small and inexperienced to do something as extravagant as a Pendragon launch. Nice of him to ask though. He actually seemed sincere about it.”

“He wants me to attend the launch with him.”

Merlin turned to check on his oven. “You’ll probably need to spend a ton of money on a suitable dress and other stuff.”

“I don’t know if I’m going.”

Closing the over, Merlin turned back to her. “Oh.”

“Oh? There will be media everywhere and you know how much I hate being in the limelight. It was bad enough with Lance and all his gallery launches. This is a hundred times bigger.”

“What did Arthur say?”

Gwen sighed. “He said that I needed to accept being in the public if we were to make it work.”

“It’s not like you didn’t know. You two have been seeing each other for almost a year.”

Her appetite all gone, Gwen pushed her plate away. “I know. I just wish we could live like we did this year forever.”

“You mean hiding either in your gym, your house or his for the rest of your lives? Look I know you’re still hurting from what happened with Lance, but Arthur isn’t Lance. At least I don’t think he is. And he loves you.”

“Lance said he loved me too,” Gwen replied bitterly. She had believed him, let her whole life revolve around him and then, when he had a chance to go to France for his art and she couldn’t go with him because of her gym, he dumped her. But the dumping wasn’t the worst. It was the interview he gave to some art magazine suggesting that she just wasn’t cut out to be the partner of an up and coming photographer. 

“You know he was misquoted.” Merlin pointed out. “Lance might have been blinded by his art, but you know he would never have said that about you.”

“Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. I just don’t want to go through a public break-up again. And this time on a larger scale.”

Merlin walked over to her and hugged her. “If it’s not something you are comfortable with, then tell him.”

+

She did but it all went horribly wrong. Firstly, the timing sucked. He had just come from a tense meeting with his father. Secondly, the words all came out wrong. In the end, Arthur concluded that she didn’t love him enough to make it work with him.

“You’re saying that you want our relationship to forever be in the shadows because you don’t believe it will last.” His voice was cool, his eyes angry and he stood at the far end of the room, arms crossed.

“You can’t guarantee it will last. I mean -”

“No I can’t but I was willing to believe it would. I was willing to work to make it last. Do you think I liked all the sneaking around? I didn’t. I want the whole world to know you’re the person I love. I want to be able to do the things most couples do together, outside in public. But I didn’t push. Guinevere, we cannot do this forever.”

“I don’t think that I can stand a public relationship.” As she stood there, heart breaking, she realised she wanted Arthur to lie to her - to assure her that they would last forever, that he would never leave her. If he did, she would have probably said she would try but he didn’t.

“I guess that’s that then.” Gwen could hear the suppressed anger in his voice.

“Can’t we -”

“Can’t we what? Continue to sneak around the rest of our lives? Do you really think that would work out? I’m not asking you to spend the rest of your life in the media glare - just bear with it now and then.” His tone softened. “Gwen, you can’t even say you love me. Maybe there’s a reason for that.”

She hesitated. She loved him and maybe, maybe she could do this for him. But she took too long to answer.

“Maybe we should take a break. I’m stressed over the launch and I don’t have the energy right now to deal with this. I’ll call you when everything has calmed down ok?” 

“Arthur -” She wasn’t sure what to say and when she failed to complete the sentence, he smiled wryly, then left her apartment.

It was over and she was right. It hurt a thousand times more than when Lance broke up with her.

+

The next time she saw Arthur was at the gym where he and Percy were sparring. From her office, she watched him through the window but he avoided looking at her. When their eyes met, he gave her a terse nod, then turned away.

Merlin and Gwaine were off on some beach holiday so she didn’t even have her best friend around to mope with. That meant she spent most of her time lying on the sofa, sobbing at terrible rom-coms and stuffing herself with ice-cream. And that was how Lance found her.

It was the day of the launch and so she was feeling even worse. The launch had been all over the news and masochist that she was, Gwen had turned on the television to watch the evening news, knowing full well that there would be coverage of the launch.

And there Arthur was, talking about his project to the reporter, about his vision to ensure that all future buildings designed by his company would be both accessible and environmentally friendly. The pride in his eyes as he spoke of how much work it took, how much disappointment he met along the way and how it finally all came together warmed Gwen and despite her broken heart, she smiled.

Until the camera panned.

Standing at Arthur’s side was a gorgeous lady, her arm nestled in Arthur’s. 

“Do you have anything to say tonight?” The reporter turned his attention to Arthur’s date. 

His date smiled - even her smile was perfect - and said, “I just want to say how proud I am of Arthur. He’s the most amazing, most driven man I know.”

In response, Arthur chuckled. “She’s being kind. I’m not perfect.” But he smiled fondly at his date and Gwen’s heart tightened. If he moved on so quickly, then he probably didn’t really love her at all. It was Lance all over again, just many times worse. She fumbled for the remote control. Arthur was still talking but she didn’t want to listen to anything he said. Switching off the television, Gwen sat on the sofa and stared at the blank screen.

She got over Lance. She would get over Arthur. 

Some time later, she was still curled up on the sofa when there was a knock on her door. She opened the door, hoping it was Merlin back early from his holiday but instead, it was Lance. He took one look at her then hugged her. “Are you ok?” His concern broke her and it all came pouring out.

For a while, Lance just held her, rubbing her back as she choked out all that had happened.

“You really love him.”

Wiping away her tears, she nodded. “I do. And I never told him and I said I couldn’t go out in public with him because it was too hard and,” she gulped, “and now, he’s found someone who will and maybe he never really loved me in the first place. Oh god.” She was crying again.

“This is all my fault isn’t it?” Lance asked as he hugged her again. “I - I don’t know how to fix this for you but I’m so sorry Gwen. You may not believe it but I do care about you a lot.”

“Stay with me? I don’t really want to be alone.”

“Of course.”

“We’re not getting back together. Just so you know.”

Lance smiled at her. “I figured that out by now. Shall I make you something to drink?”

“That would be good. Then tell me about your year in France. Keep my mind off my tragic love life.”

+

“One whole year in France and you can’t speak the language?”

“I can order food!”

Gwen laughed and threw a cushion at him. “I bet I could too. You’re hopeless. How ever did you survive?”

“Are you expecting someone? It’s past midnight!” Lance got up from the sofa and walked to the door.

“Maybe it’s Merlin.” Gwen couldn’t imagine who else it could be. 

Lance opened the door slightly, then turned to her. “It’s Arthur.” He pulled open the door and standing there, in his tux was Arthur. 

For a while, the three of them just stared at each other before Arthur cleared his throat. “I should have called first. I’m sorry. I guess this is a bad time.” He turned and walked away.

“No,” Gwen whispered, jumping off the sofa. “You have to leave Lance. I need to talk to Arthur.” She didn’t care that she was in her pyjamas and barefoot. She didn’t care that she left Lance in the doorway. She had to talk to Arthur - to tell him she loved him. And so she ran down the corridor and darted into the lift before he could close it.

“Guinevere! What -” She hit the stop button and the lift jerked to a stop.

“I need to tell you something.”

“If you are here to tell me that you and Lance are getting back together then I really rather not hear it. I think I saw enough.”

“No. No Lance and I are history. He was just keeping me company. Arthur. I love you. I know I’ve never said it before and I’ve been a complete coward during this whole relationship and I know that maybe you’ve moved on - I saw her on the news - she’s really pretty but I just wanted you to know that I love you and I’m so sorry I wasn’t -”

Somehow, she was in his arms and he was kissing her. And he was laughing and hugging her.

“Oh Gwen, I love you so much. I came over to tell you that if you want, we can sneak around for the rest of our lives or at least until no one cares about me or my company.”

She swallowed. “I don’t want us to sneak around. I watched you today and I wished I had been there with you, sharing your happiness.”

“Really?” Arthur cupped her face. “We can do it slowly. I shouldn’t have tried to force you into something as huge as a launch first.”

“Yeah. I just - I don’t want to be without you.”

Leaning his forehead against hers, Arthur smiled. “I don’t want to be without you either. And my date? She’s a childhood friend - Mithian. One day I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

“That actually sounds scary,” she murmured.

“It is but don’t worry. I’ll be there.” Then he kissed her again.

+

Gwen lay her head on Arthur’s chest, enjoying the sound of his heart beat. His fingers idly played with her hair.

“I can’t believe you switched off the television at the point at which I thanked you for standing by me.”

“You were making goo-goo eyes at another woman.”

“You were jealous. I think I like you jealous.”

Gwen pushed herself up. “You were jealous of Lance too. Don’t pretend you weren’t.”

He laughed. “I was. Now let’s stop talking about other people. I have better things to do with you.”


End file.
